Smriti Mallapaty

NIH ends fetal tissue research The National Institutes of Health’s move to end support for research using fetal human tissue is “clearly a political decision, not a scientific one,” one expert says

NIH, under Trump, moves to end fetal tissue research, @danvergano.bsky.social writes: www.scientificamerican.com/article/nih-...

‘Biotech Barbie’ says the time has come to consider CRISPR babies. Do scientists agree? A company’s plan to edit the genomes of human embryos worries some researchers — but it might reflect the changing attitudes towards the controversial approach.

Tie, who has called herself Biotech Barbie, focuses her entrepreneurial ambitions on a controversial goal: altering the genome of human embryos to prevent genetic disorders

go.nature.com/3JJBrY1

Southern elephant seals on Heard Island (Australian territory). Photo: Matt Curnock

Location of Heard Island, Australian territory. Source: Google Maps.

Australian government: "Suspected H5 bird flu in elephant seals at Australian sub-Antarctic Island". If this is correct, then highly pathogenic avian influenza will have invaded Oceania, the last continental region that was still free of the disease.
www.agriculture.gov.au/about/news/s...

Nobel Prize 2025: Three scientists share Physiology or Medicine award; honored for discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their groundbreaking discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance, a mechanism that prevents the body’s immune system from attacking its own cells.Announced on Monday by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, the award recognises decades of research that deepened understanding of autoimmune diseases and paved the way for new treatments in immunology and cancer therapy.

Nobel Prize 2025: Three scientists share Physiology or Medicine award; honored for discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their groundbreaking discoveries on peripheral…

Why yes.. someone has studied the defecation patterns of seabirds while in flight...
www.cell.com/current-biol...

If the legislation passes, the Australian CDC will start as a standalone agency on 1 January 2026, building on the groundwork and achievements of the interim Australian CDC.

How China’s bold talent recruitment has shaped science Many Chinese researchers have received enviable benefits and positions after returning from training abroad.

Talent recruitment programmes have enticed many researchers to return to China. But how successful have they been? I spoke with several researchers who have analysed these trends and assessed their impact on China's research ecosystem 🧪

Meet Aeneas: the AI that can fill in the gaps of damaged Latin texts The best results come when a human and the model work together.

My latest for Nature: AI model Aeneas predicts where ancient Latin texts come from, estimates how old they are and can restore missing parts.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Postdocs get more equipment time when applications are anonymized Early-career researchers’ access to neutron-beam instruments jumped from 61% to 78% at one Australian facility.

Switching to anonymous applications gave postdocs more access to research facilities 🧪

Controversial ‘arsenic life’ paper retracted after 15 years — but authors fight back The journal Science retracts a headline-grabbing study, but the authors vigorously defend their data and say the retraction is unwarranted.

A controversial paper claiming that an extraordinary microorganism can thrive on the toxic element arsenic has been retracted by the journal Science, nearly 15 years after its original publication -- but the paper's authors say the retraction is unwarranted.

go.nature.com/44MQsQI

Help save 2 million lives: close the vaccine funding gap Gavi, the vaccine provider for the world’s poorest people, needs an extra US$3 billion to protect infants and other vulnerable groups. More donors must step up.

Gavi, the vaccine provider for the world’s poorest people, needs an extra US$3 billion to protect infants and other vulnerable groups. More donors must step up

go.nature.com/4m0xFqG

Sex at birth is not always random — mum’s age and genetics can play a part Families with three or more boys, for example, are more likely to have another boy than a girl as the next child.

In families with several children of the same sex, the odds of having another baby of that sex are higher than of having one of the opposite sex

go.nature.com/45caBj4

Heart from organ donor restarted outside the body — technique offers new source of organs Current procedures for reviving a heart for transplant are ethically fraught or expensive.

Two low-cost techniques to revive the hearts of people who wish to donate their organs after they die could increase the number of hearts available for organ donation, particularly for children.🧪

‘Landmark’ study: three-person IVF leads to eight healthy children Long-awaited results suggest that mitochondrial donation can prevent babies from inheriting diseases caused by mutant mitochondria.

‘Landmark’ study: three-person IVF leads to eight healthy children: Long-awaited results suggest that mitochondrial donation can prevent babies from inheriting diseases caused by mutant mitochondria | Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...

One potent gene raises risk of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other brain diseases Massive proteomics database links gene variant APOE4 to chronic inflammation.

Researchers have mined a massive new protein database for age-related brain diseases and found some interesting things. Among them - people with a gene linked to Alzheimer's produce lots of inflammatory proteins, making them vulnerable to other brain diseases 🧪

Mini hearts, lungs and livers made in lab now grow their own blood vessels Nature - These sophisticated models will be used for human-development studies and drug testing.

Researchers are making ever more sophisticated mini organs in the lab — and now they can grow their own blood vessels

go.nature.com/3IkDNf5

💬 As we unite at #IAS2025, let's commit to #PutPeopleFirst in our language!

Choose your words with care:

✅ "People living with HIV"
❌ "Infected people"

✅ "HIV acquisition"
❌ "Infection"

✅ "Acquired HIV"
❌ "Caught HIV"

🌐 Learn more & join us: zurl.co/hHvo1

Animal diseases leapt to humans when we started keeping livestock When hunter-gatherers began living close to animals, the pathogens that cause the plague and leprosy got closer too.

Viruses and bacteria jumping from animals to people became a real problem when humans started keeping livestock, according to a massive genomic analysis of ancient pathogens 🧪

China pours money into brain chips that give paralysed people more control Brain–computer interfaces being trialled in China offer some advantages over Neuralink and other leading US devices.

Brain–computer interface systems similar to Neuralink’s implants are being trialled in China, giving people with paralysis the ability to play computer games, communicate in Mandarin and restore hand movement. “BCI research in China is developing very fast” says electrical engineer Zhengwu Liu. 🧪

Japan requires name change after marriage — with big effects on female scientists Survey finds law requiring married couples to share the same family name causes havoc for researchers.

Japan is the only country that legally requires married couples to share the same family name, creating problems for scientists, especially women. "For the sake of the next generation, I hope that a system of selective surnames will be enacted immediately,” says marine geophysicist Kyoko Okino.🧪

Signs of AI-generated text found in 14% of biomedical abstracts last year Abstracts included telltale words, such as ‘unparalleled’ and ‘invaluable’, that are common in text generated by large language models.

Around one in seven biomedical-research abstracts published last year was probably written with the help of AI, according to a massive analysis. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

11th case of H5N1 in Cambodia has now been reported. Known exposure to sick poultry. This is the 7th case in June, and the 4th in Siem Reap. Continued vigilance, active surveillance, and a strong One Health response remain critical. #BirdFlu 🦠🔬🧪🐓💉😷🥼

Human embryo research: how to move towards a 28-day limit The decades-old limit on how long human embryos can be grown in culture is under debate. A new road map outlines how to extend the length of culture responsibly.

The decades-old limit on how long human embryos can be grown in culture is under debate

https://go.nature.com/448yuYw

Cambodia has confirmed its 9th and 10th human cases of H5N1 bird flu this year. 6 of these cases occurred in June alone. Sadly, 6 people have died in 2025. 🧪🧬🦠🔬🥼😷🐓💉

‘Super-healing’ animals inspire human treatments Studies of the regenerative powers of worms, zebrafish and lizards suggest ways to improve recovery in people.

Axolotls can rebuild limbs and parts of their brains, green lizards can regrow tails, and zebrafish can fix broken spinal cords - Researchers are trying to harness these regenerative powers for human health🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Tiny human hearts grown in pig embryos for the first time The hearts started to beat in the pig–human hybrids, which survived for 21 days.

Researchers have grown pig embryos with beating human heart tissue for the first time 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Mice with human cells developed using ‘game-changing’ technique Human cells injected into amniotic fluid find their way into fetal mouse organs.

Researchers have created mice with sprinklings of human cells in their intestines, brains and liver. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Who is on RFK Jr’s new vaccine panel — and what will they do? Critics fear that anti-vaccine leader’s picks for crucial committee will be a ‘disaster for public health’.

Critics fear that anti-vaccine leader’s picks for crucial committee will be a ‘disaster for public health’.

So our news team asks: who is on RFK Jr’s new vaccine panel — and what will they do?

🧪 #MedSky

@nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Second ispace craft has probably crash-landed on Moon Early investigations by the Japanese company identified issues with speed and a sensor measuring the craft's altitude.

A Japanese spacecraft has probably crashed on the Moon, the second failed landing attempt for Tokyo-based private firm ispace

https://go.nature.com/4dQ31xx

NIH grant cuts will axe clinical trials abroad — and could leave thousands without care US agency’s new policy could abruptly end studies of infectious diseases and cancer, leaving researchers scrambling for funds.

Researcher Amita Gupta has spent more than a decade planning and running a $70-million trial to study a new tuberculosis drug, enrolling ~6,000 participants in 13 countries. It might all have been for nothing.

That's because a new NIH policy has abruptly cut off billions to trials abroad. 🧪